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Cheap strawberries are flooding supermarket aisles this week due to a glut caused by this year's extreme weather.

Retailers across the country are selling super-sized, reduced-price punnets, and farmers say the unusually cold spring means the fruit took longer to ripen, making the strawberries much bigger, sweeter and juicier than usual.

Not only are the strawberries more delicious, the recent hot weather caused the fruit to ripen all at once, making for a giant crop.

Waitrose has reduced the price of its fruit, after the recent rise in temperatures forced the plants into a slightly later-than-usual season.

Nicki Baggott, Waitrose strawberry buyer, said: "Strawberries love the sunshine and with the recent rise in temperatures, we've seen a bumper crop of the delicious summer fruit making its way to our shelves.

"As our yields are up, we've reduced our prices to reflect this. In particular, our exclusive Summer Blush Strawberries are growing extremely well and are perfect for our customers to use in their puds, pavlovas and Pimm's."

Discount supermarket Aldi has bought an additional 112 tonnes of strawberries to support British growers, who have too much fruit on their hands.

The supermarket will sell larger punnets at £2.95 per kg across many of its stores, which will be alongside Aldi’s existing punnet (£1.39 - 400g).

Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, said: “The recent warm weather has led to our growers needing to harvest a vast amount of their crop much later than usual. We always try to find ways to support them in times like this, while at the same time reducing unnecessary food waste.

“British strawberries are also typically brighter in colour and tastier compared with imported varieties, meaning our customers can enjoy more of the fruit at the best time of the year.”

Growers are also getting a good deal; each farm will be paid the same rate per kg of produce by Aldi as they would have done without the promotion.

Tesco is also running a promotion, selling two of its £2 400g punnets for £3, while Sainsbury's has reduced its 400g punnet from £2 to £1.60.

The cold spring meant the fruit took longer to ripen - making it more deliciousCredit:
Getty Images Contributor/ Henglein and Steets

Farmers are urging customers to get their strawberries while they are still cheap and deliciously sweet.

Nick Marston, chairman of British Summer Fruits, said: "February and March this year were considerably colder than in 2017. The strawberry crops develop more slowly if the weather is cooler.

"There is a good level of supply, and because they've ripened more slowly they are bigger, tastier and juicier than last year.

"Because there is a good level of supply supermarkets have promotions in place for the next few days. These include Kilo boxes, two for one deals and all sorts.

"We say that customers should rush out and buy strawberries now while the offers are on the very good quality fruit."

He added that while the strawberry season usually starts on May 1, the chilly spring meant it was a week and a half late.

Now, the crop is in "full swing", and it is likely the season will carry on successfully until July.

However, those hoping the glut will mean a discount day out at Wimbledon are going to be disappointed.

A spokesperson for the tennis competition said: "The strawberries and cream at Wimbledon will once again be priced at £2.50 – the price has remained the same since 2010."